The latest theory of intelligence is that it is multiple, not just the scholastic aptitude or "school smarts" of IQ tests. The great composers had high levels of musical intelligence, great writers linguistic intelligence, Olympic gold medalists body-kinesthetic intelligence, and the lives and works of Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad reflected high spiritual intelligence (SIQ). This book explains SIQ, in past and recent history, with self-help exercises to identify and further develop your own SIQ.
Divine Sparks presents practical and inspiring wisdom from the world's great religious traditions for men and women of all faiths-or none. It does not propose any dogma or doctrine, but encourages inner exploration and study to help all readers truly know their own hearts and minds. In its pages, it offers transformational insights and practices from a variety of sources, along with questions for reflection, suggestions for creative activities, and original prayers and meditations.
No one has all the light, but each person has some share of divine light within. God is not to be found "out there" but rather within the light burning in every human soul. The stories and reflections in Divine Sparks invite discovery of the divine in everyday life situations. Divine Sparks offers a staring point to reflect on one's own story and experience of the divine.
The notion that the world is filled with holy sparks is shared by religious traditions around the world. Learn to uncover this sacred dimension and you will begin to both hallow the world and be healed by its powers. These 101 lively reflections will help you learn to look outward and discover a spark of the divine in everyday objects, activities, experiences, and the glories of the natural world.
'A gem of a book.' Graham Tomlin, Bishop of Kensington Many of our everyday encounters in the world are touched by the divine, if we were only aware of it. We may find it impossible to miss God in the great interruptions of human existence, but God often finds a humbler dwelling-place . . . Donna Lazenby was in a packed underground carriage when it was taken siege by a group of musicians ripe to start a ceilidh. The eruption into dull passivity of joy seemed a herald of the Kingdom of God. And so she began to write a series of reflections, some prosaic, others more poetic in tone, that open up ways of seeing light in darkness; love in places of desolation; in-breaking life when all seems tired and old. But the coming of this Kingdom is also revealed in protest, in the world's cry against a pervasive sense of alienation, while an allegedly 'secular' culture steals and presents the claims of the Gospel as its own. And so, Divine Sparks calls us to be prophets: visionaries able to discern and proclaim God's incoming Kingdom, as it arrives by day and night. Praise for the author's A Mystical Theology (Bloomsbury, 2014): [Written] with elegance and originality Catherine Pickstock, Professor of Metaphysics and Poetics, University of Cambridge
"I suspect the real breakthroughs in our understanding of consciousness are going to come from an entirely different direction. That direction, controversially, has to do with psychedelics--which, as many of the contributors to The Divine Spark argue, offer spectacular potential for the investigation of the 'hard problem' of consciousness." --from the introduction by Graham Hancock Psychedelics: Medicinal? Vital in interspecies communication or communion with the sacred? Are you reaching enlightenment or damaging your brain? In this anthology, edited by bestselling author Graham Hancock, 22 writers discuss psychedelics and their myriad connections to consciousness. Travel to South America, the American Southwest, outer space, inner space, and back in time to revisit Pahnke's The Good Friday experiment. Explore the effects of ayahuasca, LSD, and much more. Illuminating the topic like never before: Mike Alivernia * Russell Brand * David Jay Brown * Paul Devereux * Rick Doblin * Ede Frecska * Alex Grey * Nassim Haramein * Martina Hoffmann * Don Lattin * Luis Eduardo Luna * Dennis McKenna * Thad McKraken * Rak Razam * Gabriel Roberts * Thomas B. Roberts * Gregory Sams * Robert M. Schoch * Mark Seelig * Rick Strassman * Robert Tindall And, of course, Graham Hancock.
Today, many people from all faiths are exploring the Kabbalah. What was once contoversial and esoteric teachings from midieval Jewish mystics now is becoming one of the latest spiritual trends sweeping across America. The book has a completely revised introduction and several substantially revised chapters, making key ideas less abstract and more comprehensible to readers, and now includes a section called the 10 Main Conceptual Principles.
An account of Kabbalah and its impact outside of Judaism offers a concise and highly accurate look at the history and character of the various systems developed by the adherents of the Kabbalah.
Assembled in this book are over 5,000 “Divine Sparks” — collected quotations and sayings from every path of spiritual wisdom. From “Abundance” to “Zoroastrianism,” the more than 500 topics are arranged alphabetically. What makes this collection unique is the author’s vision of a broadly-defined spiritual spectrum — covering all the familiar topics of spirituality, but wide enough to include topics such as ambiguity, bees, chaos, humor, identity, journey, knots, stones, whales and yew trees. Believing that spirituality and creativity are intricately linked, Speerstra includes many insights on such topics as art and artists, beauty, color, dance, icons, imagination, music, painting, poetry, sculpture, storytelling and writing. Women will find here a ready affinity with such topics as abuse, birth, blood, care-taking, circles, depression, dreams, feminine energy, friendship, goddess, healing, home, moon, play, ritual, etc. Those in business will find wise insights on such diverse topics as achievement, balance, communication, community, complexity, control, creativity, dialogue, discovery, entropy, failure, future, goals, innovation, knowledge, language, leaders/leadership, listening, living systems, motivation, order/disorder, possibilities, potential, quantum theory, questions, relationships, responsibility, service, synergy, talent, technology, values, vocation, and, of course, work. Close to 1,800 different authors contributed these “remembered truths.”
